Exercising apparatus.



No. 685,788. Patented Nov. 5,1s01. B. A. McFADD'EN.

EXEBCISING APPARATUS."

(Application filed Dec. 21. 1909 (No Model.)

fwi A TTOHNE rs UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD ADOLPHUS MOFADDEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

EXERCISING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 685,788, dated November5, 1901.

Application filed December 21, 1900. Serial No. 40,628. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BERNARD ADOLPHUS MCFADDEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in EX- ercisingApparatus, of which the following is a full and complete specification,such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to exercising apparatus, and particularly toapparatus of this class employing elastic cords, pulleys, and ropes ornon-elastic cords provided with handles and in which the exercising isaccomplished by pulling on said ropes or non-elastic cords; and theobject of the invention is to provide an apparatus of this class withmeans whereby the direction of the pull or the point from which the pullis made may be changed when desired.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate partsof myiniprovement are designated by the same reference characters ineach of the views, and in which- Figure l is a front elevation of anexercising apparatus constructed according to my invention; Fig. 2, asimilar View showing the parts in a difierent position, and Fig. 3 asectional view'of a detail of the construction.

In the drawings forming part of this specification I have shown anexercising apparatus of the class specified which is adapted to besecured to two stationary supports, one of which is overhead or in anelevated position and the other preferably at the floor or about levelwith the feet of the party using the same, and this apparatus consistsof a crosshead or pulling attaching device 5, which is adapted to besecured to an overhead support 6 and which is provided with threepulleys 7, 8, and 9, and a supplemental cross-head or attaching device10, which is adapted to be connected with or secured to a support 11,preferably at about the level of the feet of the operator, and theconnection of these cross-heads or attaching devices 5 and 10 ispreferably what is known as a loose connection, the said cross-heads orattaching devices being free to swing on the parts with which they areconnected, and said connection being preferably made by means of hooks12, secured to the supports, and eyelets or rings 13, connected with orforming apart of the cross-heads or at-. taching devices.

Loosely connected with the lower cross-head or attaching device 10 is anelastic 16, preferably composed of a plurality of elastic cords securedtogether at each end, as shown at 17, and a rope or non-elastic cord 19is passed through the upper central pulley 8 and through each of thepulleys 18, and the separate reaches or sides 19 thereof are then passedthrough the upper pulleys 7 and 9, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, and eachof said sides or separate reaches 19 of the rope or nonelastic cord 19is then connected with rings or eyelets 21, formed on or connected withhandle devices 22.

, In my invention the lower cross-head or attaching device 10 isprovided with two supplemental pulleys 14, which are loosely connectedtherewith and which are open at one side, as shown at 15, and inconnecting the ends of the separate sides or reaches 19 of the rope ornon-elastic cord 19 with the handle devices 22 I employ balls 20, asectional detail of one of which is shown in Fig. 3, and said reaches orsides 19 of the rope or nonelastic cord 19 are passed loosely throughthe rings or eyelets 21, formed on or connected with the handle devices22, and the ends of said separate sides or reaches 19 of the rope ornon-elastic cord 19 are then securely connected with the balls 20, thisconnection being preferably made by passing the ends of said rope orcord through said balls and tying knots therein; but this connection,however, may be made in any desired manner. In Fig. 3 I have shown oneof the balls 20 provided with two transverse bores or passages 23,through which, in the form of construction shown, the rope ornon-elastic cord 19 or the separate ends thereof are passed, ashereinbefore described, and with this construction it will be seen thatthe said balls are free to slide on said rope or non-elastic cord andmay be raised into the position shown in Fig. 1 or lowered into theposition shown in Fig. 2.

When the parts of the apparatus are in the I position shown in Fig. 1,the operator stands in front of the apparatus and pulls on the handles22, and various positions of the body may be assumed and various movements adapted, all of which are familiar to operators of exercisingapparatus of this class,and whenever the operator desires to change thepoint from which the pull is made the balls 20 are moved down adjacentto the handles,as shown in Fig. 2, and the rope or non-elastic cord 19or the separate sides or reaches thereof are hooked into the pulleys 14,as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and the apparatus is operated by pullingupwardly instead of downwardly, and various positions of the body may beassumed and various movements adapted, the same as with the apparatuswhen the parts thereof are in the position shown in Fig. l.

The improvement which constitutes the basis of this application is foundin the balls 20, which are movable on the rope or non-elastic cord 19 orthe separate sides or reaches 19 thereof and in the supplemental pulleyslet, the other parts of this apparatus being well known, and by means ofthis improvement I provide an apparatus of the class specified by meansof which a far greater variety of movements and many movements of adifferent character are possible than with apparatus of this class asheretofore constructed. My invention, however, is not limited to theballs 20, constructed as herein described, these balls forming, as willbe seen, means for lengthening the sides or separate reaches 19 of therope or non-elastic cord 10, and any suitable device by means of whichthis operation may be performed may, as will be readily understood, beemployed without departing from the spirit of my invention orsacrificing its advantages,and although I have shown the pulleys latconnected with the same device with which the elastic device 16 isconnected it will be apparent that any suitable ponnection may beprovided for the said puleys.

Although I have described the cord 19 as non-elastic, said cord may,under certain conditions, be elastic, or partially so, and my inventionis not limited to the use of elastic material in the construction ofthis cord.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An exercising apparatus, comprising top and bottom attaching devices,open pulleys connected with the bottom attaching device, a plurality ofpulleys connected with the top attaching device, intermediate pulleysconnected with the bottom attaching device by an elastic cord or cords,and a rope or nonelastic cord passed through one of the top pulleys andthrough the intermediate pulleys, the separate sides or reaches of saidrope or cord being then passed through two of the top pulleys andadjustably connected with handles, the ends of said sides or reaches ofsaid rope or non-elastic cord being provided with devices which are adjustabl y connected with the separate sides or reaches of said rope ornon-elastic cord, and the end portions of said sides or reaches of saidrope or cord being adapted to be connected with, or passed bottomattaching device, substantially as shown and described.

2. An exercising apparatus, comprising top and bottom attaching devices,three pulleys connected with the top'attaching device, two open pulleysat the bottom of the apparatus, two intermediate pulleys connected withthe bottom attaching device by an elastic connection, and a rope or cordpassing through one of the top pulleysand through the intermediatepulleys, the separate sides or reaches 7 of said rope or cord being thenpassed through two of the top pulleys and then loosely through handlesconnected therewith, and means for adjusting the lengths of the separatesides or reaches of said rope or cord, between said 7 handles and thetop pulleys, and the end portions of said sides or reaches of said ropeor cord being adapted to be connected with, or passed through the openpulleys connected with the bottom attaching device, substantially asshown and described.

3. An exercising apparatus, comprising top and bottom attaching devices,three pulleys connected with the top attaching device, two open pulleysat the bottom of-the apparatus, two intermediate pulleys connected withthe bottom attaching device by an elastic connection, and a rope or cordpassing through mediate pulleys, the separate sides or reaches of saidrope or cord being then passed through two of the top pulleys and thenlooselythrough handles connected therewith, and means for adjusting thelengths of the separate sides or reaches of said rope or cord, betweensaid handles and the top pulleys, consisting of a ball with which theends of the separate sides 1 V or reaches of the cords are connected,and through which said separate sides or reaches of said cord arepassed, and the end portions V BERNARD ADOLPHUS lllOFADDEN.

WVitnesses:

F. A. STEWART, M. K. LOWERRE.

iro

1 7 through the open pulleys connected with the one of the top pulleysand through the inter-

